


Two Lines

by rushie



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28590954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rushie/pseuds/rushie
Summary: It’s insane how many times two parallel lines pop up in everyday life.(Spoilers through The Unsleeping City 2x08)
Relationships: Sofia Bicicleta/Dale Lee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Two Lines

_ Who is here at the top of the Empire State Building? _

Two lines. Such a tiny thing. Sofia sees two lines every day. It’s insane how many times two parallel lines pop up in everyday life. The subway tracks. The dividing lines in the street. Crosswalks. Telephone wires. But these lines are different. These lines are on a stick in her hand. A stick she peed on. (She’s trying not to think too much about that, it’s kinda gross.)

This stick is telling her something that she didn’t even think was possible. All of those times with Dale… It never even occurred to them that they should use contraception. Sofia never thought about Plan B. How could a dead man get you pregnant? But there hasn’t been anyone else—of course there hasn’t, who the hell would there be?—despite her mother’s best efforts. And maybe it should be impossible for a dead man to get his wife pregnant, but Sofia has seen and been involved in more than her fair share of impossible things over the last several years.

She wraps the pregnancy test in some toilet paper and tucks it inside a plastic baggie she brought into the bathroom with her. It can’t stay in the apartment. If it’s in the apartment, her mother will find it (a matter of  _ when _ and not  _ if _ , and Sof is willing to put money down that it’ll be sooner rather than later). So she goes into her bedroom and stuffs it into the bottom of her purse. She needs to get out of the apartment before her mother comes home. She needs to get out of the apartment because she knows her mother has wine somewhere in here and the temptation to drink is so strong that her fingers were white-knuckled on the bathroom sink earlier when she was waiting for the test to be ready.

It’s the fear. She hates to admit it, tries to talk herself out of it, but it’s there, impossible to ignore. It makes her feel unsure, shameful. Sofia Lee is not supposed to be afraid. But there is a part of her, a part she fears will take her over, the part that led her to drink after Dale was gone, after Kug…did whatever the fuck it was that he did. Sofie Bikes is still in there, just waiting to come out, and Sofia Lee fears nothing so much as she does becoming that person again. She’s supposed to be getting her life together. But so much shit is happening, and now—

Two lines.

She cannot drink. She  _ cannot _ drink. This is about more than her own body or chips from an AA meeting. Sof has never had much self-preservation when it comes to herself. But she will always give of herself to protect her friends. Her family. The people she loves. She will not drink. But she  _ does _ need to get out of here. She swings her purse onto her shoulder and stomps out the door.

* * *

She waits in line behind a family with a toddler and a baby. The mother—she looks young, not that much older than Sof—is holding the toddler’s hand, and the dad is carrying the baby on his chest in a BabyBjorn. They look happy but tired—parents always look tired, but she’s been noticing it more lately since she realized her period was late. Two nights ago, she saw a new mother at Duane Reade sporting a monstrous, messy topknot, wearing Eeyore pajama pants and UGG boots, trying to calm her crying baby and pay for a gallon of milk at the same time. She looked more exhausted than anyone Sofia had ever seen.

She had gone home and cried for an hour. 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to be doing this together. Dale was supposed to be here to teach the kid math and show them the deer in the backyard. Dale was supposed to cry at Disney movies with them, get choked up reading bedtime stories. Sofia had wanted kids, but she had wanted kids  _ with Dale _ . There are families all around her, buying their tickets, talking about the view, marveling about the things they’d seen in the city that day. Sofia stands by herself, the pregnancy test like a stone in the bottom of her purse. 

She should probably tell someone. Not her mother. How was she even supposed to explain this to her mother? “Hey, Ma, so remember Dale? He’s been busting out of heaven to come visit me, and we had a  _ lot _ of sex, and uh. Well, guess dead guys can still knock a girl up! Who knew, right?”

Yeah, no. 

Maybe she could tell Esther. But would that feel like she was putting pressure on her and Ricky? Maybe not Esther. Maybe Kingston. But Kingston will have advice, and she didn’t think she was in a headspace for advice like, “take these vitamins every day.” She just needed advice on how to do this without the other half of the equation. (A math reference. Dale would’ve loved that.) Tears prick at the corners of her eyes, and she blinks fast and hard. 

“Oh, Jesus,” she mutters, looking up at the ceiling. And then of course it is her turn and the woman at the ticket booth is giving her A Look so she just says, “Sorry, I just finished watching  _ An Affair To Remember _ again.”

The woman nods and passes Sofia her ticket. “Totally understand. Great movie.”

Sofia dabs at her eyes with the back of her index finger. “Just—that Cary Grant. He really is somethin’.”

She rides the elevator up to the 102nd floor observatory. In a way, she was always going to end up here. It’s not the spire—Sofia doesn’t think a woman in her condition should be balancing on one foot of the spire of the Empire State Building, anyway—but it’s the closest she can get. It’s a clear winter day in the city, sunny and cold and bright, which means she can see almost 80 miles from the floor-to-ceiling window in front of her. It is breathtaking and terrifying, and she lets out a little sob before she can stop herself.

“Sorry,” she says, because a couple walking by give her a weird look. “Just thinkin’ about  _ An Affair to Remember _ .”

She turns back to the window. On either side of her are families. One is the family that was in front of her in line. The husband has his arm around his wife’s waist. The toddler’s hands are pressed flat against the window, and he says an exaggerated, “ _ Wooooooooow _ .” The other is a larger family, with slightly older kids. One of their dads is pointing out landmarks that can be spotted from their vantage point. Sofia closes her eyes and squeezes them tight so she doesn’t sob again.

“God, Dale,” she whispers to the window in front of her. “What the fuck am I supposed to do? How the fuck do I do this alone?”

Dale hasn’t been back. Dale isn’t coming back. Sofia knows that, but at this moment, it is too much, because she needs someone, she needs  _ him _ . And her need isn’t enough to will him into being, but it is enough to remind her of something he told her years ago, before she came here the first time: “I know what it’ll seem like, but there is someone there.”

She opens her eyes. Sofia Lee is going to have a baby, a baby that is hers and Dale’s.

There is someone there.

_ Who is here at the top of the Empire State Building? _

She places one hand on her belly. “Motherfuckin’ we’re here.”


End file.
